Facilitation skills for a group facilitator to use - a definition

Introduction to facilitation

This is a simple
introduction to the important skill of facilitating groups to achieve
their tasks most effectively.

We all work in groups of
one sort or another at one time or another. And many of us are in
leadership positions in which we have to ensure that the group we
lead functions optimally.

Groups are set up for a
variety of reasons, but they all have very similar characteristics,
and go through similar development processes, whether the group is a
learning group or a project team, a management meeting or a
leadership forum.

The members of groups and
teams enter the group or team with very different expectations and
experiences, and so for them to participate and function well in the
group or team the processes within the group or team will have to be
facilitated, and this facilitation requires certain skills and
personal attributes which are not necessarily inborn, but haver to be
learned. This learning is also a conscious process which increases an
individual's level of awareness of others and of their own impact on
others.

Definition of Facilitation

A useful definition of
facilitation is "the set of all tasks needed to impartially run
a meeting. Facilitation serves the group to encourage, aid, and lead
group decision-making. Facilitation does not "manage" nor
entertain the group but does control the process."
(http://www.mgrush.com/content/view/70/33/)

Another definition from
the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) is A facilitator
is someone who uses knowledge of
group processes to formulate and deliver the needed structure for
meeting interactions to be effective.

Facilitation in the context of group development

All this needs to take
place in the context of the group development process. A useful way
to understand the process of development that all groups go through
is the "forming, storming, norming, performing" model
developed by Bruce W. Tuckman in the 1960s.

The basic premise of this
model is that the members of a group have different needs and
expectations at each stage that the group goes through in its life
cycle; and the group has been formed for a specific task or purpose.
The task of the facilitator is to help (facilitate) the group
negotiate those needs and expectations so that the group can more
quickly and easily arrive at the final stage, "performing"
and so achieve the purpose for which it was formed.

These two types of factors
- the members' needs and the purpose of the group - are called the
"task" and "process" axes in the model. The
facilitator's job is to ensure that the process concerns get taken
care of and that the group achieves its purpose.

To do this the facilitator
needs to have a high level of interpersonal skills as well as an
understanding of and commitment to the task at hand. It is
essentially a balancing function - too much attention to the task
factors would lead to a sterile and unfulfilling experience for the
members of the group, and a rather uncertain chance of achieving the
task anyway. Too much attention to the process concerns without at
the expense of the task concerns would lead to directionless
wandering, and also an unfulfilled task and unhappy members.

The group can be likened
to a bicycle - without a front wheel and handlebars (concern for
task) it would not get to its goals; without pedals, a chain and the
back wheel (process concerns) it would not have the energy needed to
get to where it was supposed to go. The two factors need to be in
some kind of balance to get anywhere and it is the task of the
facilitator to maintain that balance, or to help the group maintain
that balance.

Group Stage

Process concerns

Task concerns

Forming

Who am I here and what is expected of me? How can I be in this group?

What are we here for? How are we going to achieve our purpose?

Storming

Intra-group conflict Need to assert individuality

Resistance to task Gap between task requirements and individual needs

Norming

Cohesion begins - agreement on how to deal with interpersonal issues

Exchange of information and sharing of ideas and opinions relative to task

Maintaining an
individual's self-esteem mean that the facilitator does not say
anything or do anything that might give the individual the impression
that they are not valued, that their input is not valued or that they
are not valued as a person. Group members need to feel valued at all
times, otherwise they will not willingly continue to participate in
the group.

Listening for
understanding requires a focussed attention on the person speaking,
an attempt to listen "between then lines" for the meaning
and feelings underlying the person's words, and then responding to
those feelings as well as to the surface meaning of the words.

Asking individuals for
their help is simply to involve the individual in the process of
solving whatever problem is facing the group at that time.

Making process suggestions
in the form of questions is to ask the group how they want to
proceed, instead of imposing a procedure on them. This is especially
useful when a group, or meeting, is "stuck" and seems to be
going around in circles without reaching any decision or conclusion.

When to use facilitation

Facilitation skills are
used in many different situation. In business they are most often
effectively used when leading meetings, especially, though not
exclusively, of project teams.

In society, one of the
most effective ways to use facilitation skills is in the area of
conflict resolution. This can be in the micro level of
intra-community disputes or in the macro area of international
disputes. Very often used in the resolution of conflict between two
competing interest groups, such as labour and management.

Facilitation skills are
also used in many different groups. Groups are formed for many
different purposes - training and skills development, therapy,
learning, personal growth. In all of these instances the use of
facilitation skills based on an understanding of the dynamics which
underly the group's interactions is beneficial to the achievement of
the group's goals.

How to develop facilitation skills

Facilitation skills by
their very nature cannot be learned by reading or even talking about
them. Facilitation is a set of experiential skills which have to be
learned "on the job" as it were. They have to be learned in
the context of the experiential learning cycle, which in its simplest
form is to do something, reflect on the experience and draw
conclusions, or learnings, from that reflection. In this way the
skill is learned by the disciplined reflection on the experience.

Facilitation ethics

Facilitating a group or
meeting places the facilitator into a position of considerable
personal power which can lead to the members developing dependence on
the facilitator. It also opens the possibility of the facilitator
being able to manipulate the group.

These are obviously highly
undesirable outcomes and so there is a need to operate according to a
set of ethical standards when facilitating in any situation.

There are two aspects to
this - the personal ethics that the facilitator must adhere to when
facilitating, and the group's own ethical standards, which are
usually expressed in the form of group norms or ground rules.

These two sets of norms
sometimes intersect but the facilitator should always adhere to
certain standards which are not negotiable. Within the group these
ethical standards should entail at least norms around these issues:

Confidentiality

Participation

Tolerance and
respect

Time keeping

The International
Association of Facilitators has developed a Code of Ethics for
facilitators which details ethical standards such as:

Client service

Conflict of
interest

Group autonomy

Processes,
methods and tools

Respect,
safety, equity and trust

Stewardship of
process

Confidentiality

Professional
development

Copyright Notice

The text and all images on this page, unless otherwise indicated, are by Tony McGregor
who hereby asserts his copyright on the material. Should you wish to
use any of the text or images feel free to do so with proper attribution
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Comments

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Joseph Mathenge 5 years ago

a well researched piece on group facilitation

Author

Tony McGregor 6 years agofrom South Africa

Molla - thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you come back I did cover some other aspects of facilitation in my Hub called "How to learn from experience". I get your point though - how to use these skills effectively within the context of a workshop is what you're asking, I think. Maybe will do another article on that.

Love and peace

Tony

Molla Bayle 6 years ago

I gote some hints but If there is onther deep about haw coordinate workshops

Kari Poulsen 8 years agofrom Ohio

I love to facilitate...and I can do it well when I want. When I see it put this way, I am amazed at all facilitation depends on...but you are 100% correct! :D

Barry Rutherford 8 years agofrom Queensland Australia

over here we use the term mediation

Author

Tony McGregor 8 years agofrom South Africa

Thanks for the comments, friends.

Emo - you are welcome, andf I look forward to reading more of your informative Hubs

Love and peace

Tony

Sioux Ramos 8 years agofrom South Carolina

Tony, My title is a facilitator, I have tried many ways to exlain what this means. Thanks to you, it is very easy, I will be borrowing these benefits if I may. Facilitating is really the function most are performing they just call it something different, therefore getting different results. I appreciate this hub very much! Let Your Light Shine!

Mac Mission 8 years agofrom bangalore

I didn't know what is Facilitation mean by.After reading this article i came to know. Thanks for the article